The present invention relates to a pack containing medicament and a dispensing device, either for use with the pack or including the pack.
In the field of dry powder drug delivery, it is known to provide a reservoir of dry powder and a dosing mechanism which draws a predetermined quantity of powder, i.e. a unit dose, from the reservoir. Although this allows a large number of doses to be carried in a relatively small volume, it is very difficult to meter the required quantity of medicament accurately and repeatably. Furthermore, the powder, when stored or metered, may become compressed and agglomerated to varying degrees.
As an alternative approach, it is also known to pre-meter individual unit doses into respective compartments of a pack, such that individual compartments may be opened and individual unit doses of medicament may be dispensed.
The compartments may be formed as so called blister packs in which preformed pockets or blisters are sealed with a lidding foil.
In order to open the compartments, the lidding foil may be pierced using a sharp edge to puncture the foil, so as to allow air to flow into and out of the compartments. In doing so, the foil is pressed into the compartment, thereby preventing the compartment from being fully opened, such that it is not fully or repeatably emptied of the powder.
It is also possible to peel the foil away from the base so as to open the compartments. However, the dispensing devices used to do this are more complex, since it is necessary to control the tension of the lidding foil and to control accurately the amount of unpeel such that only one compartment is opened at a time. Additionally, the compartments must be spaced out so as to simplify the positional control. This increases the size of the blister pack and the dispensing device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system of packing medicament such that individual unit doses of the medicament may be dispensed whilst avoiding the problems identified above.